This invention relates to a method and an injection molding apparatus for manufacturing a tray or mold utilizable for imprinting moldable foodstuffs. In addition, this invention relates to the tray or mold and an associated method for further imprinting or personalizing individual molded products within a series.
Significant consumer appeal may be imparted to chocolate bars, candy bars and other foodstuffs by imprinting thereon personalized messages which may be unique to the individual customer, to a group of customers or to the particular producer. Candy bars and the like imprinted with trademark logos or advertising slogans may be used effectively for advertising and marketing purposes. For example, a company having different classes of customers may wish to send, for promotional purposes, to the members of each class a chocolate bar bearing an imprinted message unique to the respective class.
Conventional molds for producing chocolate items are produced in one of three ways. Pursuant to a first technique, particularly utilized in the production of bite-size chocolate pieces such as truffles and filled candies, or of mass produced candy bars, each piece or bar is formed in a precision mold intended for a single item only. Tooling is accordingly implemented on a one-design use basis only. If any changes are to be made in the details of the chocolate pieces or bars, new molds must be made.
Pursuant to another conventional technique for manufacturing molds to be utilized in the production of chocolate pieces, exemplarily chocolate bars having design elements but not intended for mass production, the chocolate molds are vacuum formed from a sheet of thin thermoplastic material heated and sucked down over a pre-cut wooden form. Although such a technique is inexpensive, it is incapable of producing a high degree of detail in the inscribed shapes.
A third conventional technique for manufacturing molds to be utilized in the production of chocolate pieces involves molding with silicone, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,658 to Katzman et al. This method of forming chocolate pieces or bars is slow and cumbersome inasmuch as it takes hours or days for a silicone mold to cure. The use of silicone molds is especially ill adapted for applications in which the form of the mold must be frequently and rapidly changed.